Lay the bacon strips on a baking sheet lined with tin foil. Sprinkle enough brown sugar to cover each strip. Bake for 5-7 minutes at 350 degrees until the sugar starts to melt, about 5-7 minutes. Flip bacon slices and drag through the fat/sugar. Sprinkle with more brown sugar and bake for another 7-10 minutes until crisp. Place bacon on a wire rack until cool and chill completely in refrigerator.

In a heavy-bottomed pan, melt the butter over low heat. Add 1 1/2 cups of the half-and-half, 1 cup brown sugar and salt and just bring to a boil. Whisk egg yolks in a separate bowl and add a spoonful of the hot half-and-half mixture while whisking to temper. Repeat process a few more times. Add the egg yolk mixture to the half-and-half mixture in the pot and stir thoroughly. Add the Bourbon, and continue cooking until mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, stirring constantly. Strain into 1 1/4 cups of cold half-and-half. Whisk thoroughly, cover and chill in the refrigerator at least 6-8 hours (or overnight).

Chop the bacon strips into small pieces. Churn into ice cream following your ice cream maker’s direction, and add the bacon in the last minute of churning. Transfer ice cream to an airtight container and freeze a few hours before serving.

We would like to invite you to join Master Distiller, Jim Rutledge for a Bourbon Seminar at Four Roses Distillery on Tuesday, June 9th. Jim will give a presentation on the Bourbon making process, and explain how we make Four Roses Bourbons always smooth and always mellow. After the presentation there will be a walking tour of the distillery and then move to the sensory lab for a tasting of Four Roses Bourbon and other Bourbons currently on the market. The evening will finish with a social hour in which you may mingle with other Mellow Moments Club members and Four Roses staff.

Due to our seating capacity the Bourbon Seminar with Jim is limited, priority will be given to members who have not attended in the past. The seminar will be held from 5:00 pm – 8:00 pm. At 8:00 pm the social hour begins. This will be a time for members to talk with Jim and meet new friends.

To make a reservation for a member and one guest for the seminar please RSVP by Monday, June 1.

Please email Julie_Crittenden@fourroses.biz or call 1-877-FOUROSE for reservations or with any questions you may have regarding this event. Must be 21 to attend and this event is offered at no charge.

Road running’s newest addition to its long relay category is the Bourbon Chase in Kentucky, October 9 and 10, 2009. This overnight relay will see 150 teams of 12 runners (or six in the ultra category) race on over 200 miles of scenic back roads and byways connecting Kentucky’s bourbon distillers along its historic Bourbon Trail. This race expects to see the most people travel the Bourbon Trail in a two-day period ever.

Bourbon and Kentucky
Kentucky and bourbon go hand in hand as Kentucky provides 95 percent of the world’s bourbon. The state’s Bourbon Trail connects seven of the state’s more prominent bourbon distillers. Bourbon is a unique spirit, different from whisky in that it must have at least 50 percent corn, at least 17 percent rye, and be aged in new charred white oak barrels. Early settlers to the area included many Scotch or Irish immigrants and their descendants, and they brought with them to America their whiskey-making skills. Corn was a native crop growing abundantly in Kentucky, and there was also seemingly unlimited supply of clean, calcium-filled, iron-free water that had been distilling for millions of years in the state’s limestone beds; both of these are critical components of the whiskey-making process. Farmers new to the area soon began distilling their surplus corn using the limestone water, producing a new kind of whiskey. When farmers began shipping their bourbon down the Mississippi River to New Orleans they used new barrels made from white oak—which are native to the state—as shipping containers; these oak barrels ‘mellowed’ the whiskey, further setting this unique kind of whiskey apart from others. Later, it became customary for the distillers to use barrels that had been charred on the inside; this process provided the whiskey with a smoother taste and its distinctive amber color. During the early 1800s, corn whiskey produced in other parts of central Kentucky finally came to be known as bourbon whiskey.

The Bourbon Chase Course
This race will showcase the best of Kentucky in the autumn months. Runners will begin at the Jim Beam Distillery American Outpost & Homestead in Clermont, Kentucky, and continue on to Bardstown, the Bourbon Capital of the World. In the charming city of Bardstown, runners will run through the grounds of Heaven Hill, the largest family-owned distillery in the world, and then head to the charming town of Loretto, home to the historic and beautiful Maker’s Mark distillery. From Loretto the course runs through Lebanon, where most of the state’s bourbon barrels are made. The course then passes through and along some of the state’s Kentucky’s most historic areas, including Perryville Battlefield, the site of a Civil War battle, and Stanford, the second oldest city in Kentucky. Runners will then head north and pass through Danville, the site where the state’s first constitution was written, and Harrodsburg, which was established as Fort Harrod in 1774 and was the first permanent settlement west of the Alleghenies.

The course then takes runners back into distillery country, starting with Four Roses and Wild Turkey, both in Lawrenceburg, Kentucky. Runners will then cross the Tyrone Bridge, several hundred feet above the Kentucky River, in Anderson County and enter the official gateway to Horse Country. This section of the course, heading toward Woodford Reserve, will undoubtedly serve as the most stunning because of its rolling bluegrass countryside and picturesque horse farms.

Continuing north, runners will run through Frankfort—the state’s capital. Here runners will pass the abandoned castle of the Old Taylor Distillery, once a tourist destination itself for Washington and Kentucky’s elite. The course then takes runners through historic downtown Frankfort where they will run by the ‘old’ (1830) and new (1910) Capitol buildings, the Governor’s Mansion, and of course, the Buffalo Trace Distillery, one of only four distilleries permitted by the federal government to continue producing through prohibition for ‘medicinal’ purposes.

Runners will leave Frankfort heading east, and pass through Midway, home of Midway College, one of the state’s leading colleges focusing on equine professions. As runners wind their way out of Midway and down the scenic back roads of the Bluegrass Region, the course will run near Keeneland, a beautiful track and thoroughbred sales complex, which is home to several Kentucky Derby and Breeders’ Cups prep races, most notable of which is the Blue Grass Stakes. Runners will then head for the finish line in downtown Lexington, near the storied Rupp Arena. The celebration will include live music, food, and of course, bourbon. All runners will receive a Bourbon Chase medal and shirt.

The Finish Line
Lexington calls itself the Horse Capital of the World, and there are many good reasons why. In addition to Keeneland, Lexington is also home to the Kentucky Horse Park, the world’s only equine educational park, recreation area, and museum. The Kentucky Horse Park is also where many of the world’s greatest racing thoroughbreds come to retire. Also boosting Lexington’s claim as Horse Capital of the World is its role of host of the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games, which will feature more than 50 breeds on 1,200 rolling Bluegrass acres.

Race Details
For this inaugural Bourbon Chase, start times will be determined based on each team’s average pace. The first teams will begin on October 9 at 9:00 am and waves of teams will leave every 15 minutes. Each team member will runner three legs of the 36-leg race; the length of each leg will vary but will be no shorter than 3.8 miles and no longer than 8.2 miles. All teams will be expected to finish the course in under a pace of 11 minutes per mile. Further, all runners must be 21 to participate in this libations-themed race.

Shhh! Please don’t tell! We’re offering a “sneak peek” of the Four Roses Limited Edition Single Barrel 2009 only to MMC members. Come and celebrate with us and enjoy a sip of the latest non chill filtered Barrel Strength Bourbon. This wonderful Bourbon is another one of our unique ten recipes, aged 11 years, and never before been released as a Single Barrel. We want you to be the first to know and taste this special release.

On May 28, we are offering you the opportunity to sample this selection before it hits the shelves. We invite you to join us at the distillery from 5:00 – 7:00 p.m. for hors d’oeuvres and a taste of this Limited Edition chosen by Master Distiller, Jim Rutledge. During this event Jim will describe the uniqueness of this special Bourbon and answer any questions you may have about the product.

If you would like to attend with one guest, please RSVP by May 22 by calling 1.877.FOUROSE or via email to julie_crittenden@fourroses.biz

The reservations for this event are limited so reply as soon as possible.